KUALA LUMPUR — Lawyers who spoke to The Vibes have cautioned that the Kuala Lumpur Bar’s sexual harassment pledge does not do enough to protect female members of the fraternity from being targetted by sexual wrongdoers in the profession.
Kuhan Manokaran, a lawyer who signed the pledge in his personal capacity, pointed out that the problem has been existing in the legal industry for a long time.
“The pledge is not good enough to combat the issue because you don't need a pledge to stop sexual harassment, the same way you don’t need a pledge to stop theft.
“You know it's wrong, so you don't do it. But people are still doing it,” Kuhan said.
Furthermore, it is understood that only a few law firms have a sexual harassment policy in place.
He said lawyers should ensure they do not appear as being hypocritical. He said they should not be quick to tell others what to do but be slow to implement the same on themselves.
Another pledge signee, Keith Moo, who runs a firm, explained that sexual harassment also happens outside the confines of an office. He referred to accounts of male lawyers making suggestive and lewd remarks to female counterparts in court premises.
He said that legislative measures may be needed to combat the issue.
“At the end of the day, sexual harassment boils down to how men treat women,” he said.
“The pledge is definitely not enough. It (a law) has to come from Parliament.”
When contacted, KL Bar Gender Equality and Diversity Committee chairperson Liza Khan said the pledge is an initial step towards a ruling to tackle the problem.
She said the purpose of the pledge was to create awareness and hype regarding the issue.
“The KL Bar’s next step is to get the Bar Council to make a ruling on the matter,” she said.
“We get firms to adopt a sexual harassment policy in their workplace, and make it part of the existing legal profession’s ethics and etiquette rules.”
She, however, pointed out that women continue to be vulnerable until a sexual harassment bill is passed.
The Sexual Harassment Pledge is an initiative by the KL Bar under its sexual harassment awareness campaign which has seen more than 100 firms in Kuala Lumpur signing to comply with the pledge.
It understood that the move by the KL Bar came in light of a sexual harassment allegation from a female lawyer employed in a prominent law firm that went viral on social media. — The Vibes, October 30, 2020
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